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Welcome to Am I Infected

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Thank you for your understanding and future support of the best online support service for people living with, affected by and at risk for HIV.

i had visited your forum earlier and got immensely benefited from your support and advice. but before i could get back to you all - andy, rapirod, ann and others, with the news , here i am with a possible infection. looks like i am destined to have the hiv virus and there is no way i can run from it.i am the one who had suffered sexual abuse when i was a minor. anyways as per advice i got myself tested amd took the eliza test on the 7th of june and it was negetive. but now i strongly believe that i have finally got the infection this time from the clinic. the very next day that is the 8th when i woke up in the morning i felt that i had caught cold. though there was no running nose and cogestion in the nose. i took an anti allergic tablet - CETZINE. the next few days went okie, but the cold came back on the 9th day, as i woke up in the morning i had a feeling as though my head was heavy and i felt feverish. the kind of feeling that you get in the head and around the face region if u have caught cold. there was no cogestion in the nose and no headache or bodyache, no sore throat, no swollen lymphs. these symptoms carried on till the 27th of june. during this phase (10-11 days) i had taken 8 to 9 anti allergic tablets -CETZINE and on the 18th and 19th i had taken three antibiotic capsules. but it did not do any good. Temperatures recorded over this period was below normal but on three to four occasions 98.8 degrees and once 99 degrees. i am back to being a nervous wreck. i wonder whether this is the acute viral syndrome. please advice on what test should i take now.i have learned from different articles that the intial AVS symptoms appear within 2-4 weeks of exposure, my question is - can it occur before 2 weeks?

James, you do need to get some help but it has nothing to do with HIV.

Please don't come back to us with details about what was done wrong at the testing site that caused you to become infected. It just doesn't happen that way and you aren't the first one whose anxiety about HIV has come up with that kind of scenario.

For whatever reasons you have some intense fears connected to HIV. That's something you need to address with a therapist or other such professional. Talking about it in a safe and private setting including about your sense of inevitability about becoming HIV positive is the way to address this issue.

No clinic is going to open themselves up to lawsuits by re-using needles (or whatever else you think they did to infect you). It's just simply not going to happen. Clinics and hospitals have EXTREMELY strict guidelines for sterile equiment, and everyone working in a clinic or hospital is well-trained in safety procedures. It's the law.

If you are still terrified, I suggest you call the clinic and have them describe to you their safety procedures for needles and other equipment. I can assure you that it will put your mind at ease.

I concur with rick and andy. Remember your temperature can fluctuate in your body at any time. A 99 degree reading is pretty normal. Stop reading stuff on the internet, it will only do you no good, been there and done that. You have tested negative and if you continue to be safe you will have no problems. Good Luck Dogstar

to andy :- i am extremely sorry if i have put in unnecessary questions. but my intetion is not to waste anybodys valuable time. i understand that people who come to this forum are under immense stress and they look forward to your valuable advise. but i am all the more conecerned because i am supposed to get married shortly and i dont want to take any chances at all and punish somebody innocent. since these symptoms ( i can assure u its not psychological) have occured i want to be dead sure about my status. i donot have anything against the testing center.to rick_nh: i understand your views but that i feel that relates perfectly to a place like US/european countries but in third world countries its different.

please let me know what test can i take at the end of 5-6 weeks and how accurate can it be?Also Is it possible to have the initial AVS symtoms like fever and all before 2 weeks? since all sites put the period as 2-4 weeks. in my case the symptoms appeared on the 9th day.

If because of your totally unfounded fears about HIV transmission from the clinic where you tested you still decide to get tested, then 13 weeks is considered the reliable testing point by CDC standards. The average time to seroconversion is 22 days. All but the smallest number will seroconvert within 4-6 weeks after an exposure to the HIV virus. So some people test at 6 weeks and then confirm a negative result with a re-test at 13 weeks. But I am talking about those with a genuine risk.

You are insisting you had a risk at the clinic and I don't agree with that but you're of course free to do as you wish.

I think the experts here have said all that needs to be said but I wanted to add that you report here only on the supposed symptoms you are having. You don't give any good indication on why you think you would have gotten infected from a clinic. Having worked in several health care centers and currently working in a hospital research lab, I can tell you without a doubt that you did not pick up a viral infection from any dirty needles. Everything is sterilized and used only once per patient and then discarded and autoclaved.

Likewise you report varied body temperatures that fall totally within "normal" range. Therefore it appears you've discovered what people have already told you. IF you measure body temperature enough times you will find that it isn't constant but fluctuates slightly below or above what is considered normal. You do not report temperatures that are indicative of an infection.

Andy makes a great point that is worth repeating, your case seems psychological. Someone under intense mental distress can actually exhibit real physical symptoms. Consider therapy for helping you cope with unfounded fears of infection. When your mind is at peace your symptoms will disappear like magic!

just one last question : in various websites its given that the window period for getting an eliza test is 6 months, but given the kind of eliza tests that are available in developing countries would a 13 weeks test be definitive and conclusive (100% accurate)?

Thanx for all your help previously. i will be obliged if you all answer a few more questions.since i had a fear that i may have got infected by HIV virus from the syringe that was used to draw blood at an HIV teting center and subsequently i had fever that lasted two weeks, i got myself tested last week.My questions are:

The test performed last week is a rapid kit test for HIV I & II (KIT used was HIV TRI - DOT - Biomed Industries). can you tell me is this rapid kit test is as accurate as an elisa?

Is a rapid kit test taken at 4 months definitive and conclusive? is the three month window period applicable to rapid kit tests also?

the reason i asked the question whether the three month window period is applicablethe tri-dot rapid kit test is because the attendant at the testing center told me that the suitable time for the rapid kit test is 6 months and that i will require a followup test. he also told me that elisa is a more accurate test than the rapid kit, i am confused and cant make anything out if this?

sorry for asking the question again, please tell me is the three month window period applicable to tri-dot rapid kit test also?

does the tri-dot rapid kit test taken at 4 months require a followup even if chances of transmission are very high?

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

sorry to bother all of you again. the following is the reply i received from another webiste.

Rapid tests are recommended for certain settings like camps or screenings when quick results are required so that the HIV infected person can be counselled immediately. The accuracy of the Rapid tests are adequate and satisfactory in such settings, but the incidence of false positives is more in Rapid tests. Hence in clinical settings, Elisa test is the recommended test. A Rapid test at four months needs to be confirmed at six months. The window period is unchanged for Rapid tests and a confirmatory test is required in case the preliminary test is positive. The technology used is similar to that of an Elisa test. A rapid test produces results in approximately 20 minutes

u had mentioned that whatever be the test, it is conclusive if taken at three months, but they sugget a confirmatory rapid test at 6 months for conclusion. it will be very kind of you if you can explain the differnce of opinion?

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

sorry to bother all of you again and i dont intend to waste your time, but i would like to tell you that i respect your views, its just that a few things are still on my mind, and i feel awful. i was trying to find the answer to my question in this forum but instead i stumbled upon a posting by darkfiber that has again made me worried. the quote is mentioned below

Quote

PS. In Switzerland we only use 4th generation assays (with exception of rapid tests) and we still have the 3 months windowperiod, 4th generation tests

does that mean that the window period for rapid test is longer? is the tri-dot rapid a 4th generation test?

please also let me know what are the chances of a false negative?

i am truly sorry if i am being a nuisanse, but please understand my state of mind

The tri-dot test which you inquired about was developed in India and is widely used there.

It is not FDA-approved and there is not in use in the United States.

This a quote from the Journal of Clinical Microbiology:

Two rapid human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening assays, HIV TRI-DOT and HIV-SPOT were compared with standard enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays according to a testing algorithm. Sensitivities and specificities in the real-time evaluation were 99.5 and 99.9% for TRI-DOT and 98.2 and 99.7% for HIV-SPOT, respectively. These two tests are suitable for use where facilities and laboratory expertise are limited.

sorry for putting this forward again i tried not to do this for the last two days but not being able to hold on, i might be acting stupid but believe me i am not being able to let off my steam and not getting an reply makes me feel damn scared. i know your advices are scientific and true, i dont know whats wrong with me.

i have accepted your views on the window period of three months, all i want to know is, would all these views of three month window period be applicable to tri-dot also, since it is not FDA approved?

is tri-dot a fourth generation test? is there even a remote chance of having a false negative?

Here's a thought, why don't you ask these questions of the person who is giving you the tri-dot test?

We are not a counseling service james. You need to be talking this stuff over with a counselor face to face. You have a conclusive negative test and you did NOT become infected from taking the test. Your issues are outside the scope of this forum. And yes, I remember you very well from the other forum.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

i was going crazy till yesterday because the attendant at the clinic was on leave, today i managed to speak to him, but instead of getting my queries answered, he threw me back to the ditch.he could not give me an answer, all he said was tri-dot is conclusive only if taken after 6 months?

why? NO EXPLANATION.

I wonder if there is a business angle, to his suggestion that i take another test.

but what reallt sent me through the roof was when he said that if the virus has entered the body in extremely small proportion (very very little amount - as may have been in my case) then it takes a very long period for the antibodies to reach detectable levels. i am really going mad.

please tell me facts about the tri-dot and its window period and about the what he said about the virus entering the in small porportion.

your forum is the only place where i can get to know facts that are not biased

A heartfelt thanks to Ann, Andy, Rapirod, Rick and Dogstar for showing patience, care and providing the much needed support, as also to other members of this forum who help worried wells like us to get some peace of mind, and letting us know true facts about HIV.